AMES, Iowa -- Children who are already more impulsive or have
attention problems tend to spend more time playing video games
than other children, which subsequently may compound their
attention problems. That's according to a new longitudinal
study led by two Iowa State University researchers, published
this week by the American Psychological Association in its
debut issue of the Psychology of Popular Media Culture journal.

Douglas Gentile, an associate professor of psychology at Iowa
State; and Edward Swing, an ISU psychology doctoral candidate,
worked with researchers from the Institute of Mental Health and
National Institute of Education in Singapore on the study. They
examined video-game playing as it relates to attention problems
and impulsiveness in a sample of 3,034 children and adolescents
from Singapore, measured over three years.

The ISU researchers say their findings raise concern about the
potential for video games contributing to further attention
problems.

"I've had numerous parents come up to me and tell me
that their child has ADHD and the only thing they could focus
on for two hours at a time is video games," said Gentile,
who runs the Media Research Lab at Iowa State. "And I
would wonder to myself whether that was a good thing or not.
This study begins to answer that question, and it looks as if
it's not going to help your children in the long run."

"Parents might think that playing video games makes their
child [with attention problems] more manageable or even helps
them focus their attention, but that may be at the expense of
their behavior in other situations," Swing added.
"Maybe in the classroom, they're [the child] not
getting that same kind of stimulation and excitement, so they
can't function as well. Or by spending so much time playing
video games, some children may miss out on opportunities to
develop sustained, focused attention that they need in
school."

Data from 12 schools in Singapore

Researchers collected data from the sample children, ages 8 to
17 years old, at 12 schools in Singapore. The children provided
information about their video-game playing habits by completing
questionnaires in their classrooms at three intervals -- each a
year apart starting in grades three, four, seven and eight.
They also completed psychological tests commonly used to
measure attention and impulsiveness.

The authors defined attention problems as having a difficult
time engaging in or sustaining behavior to reach a goal. They
note that while previous research found that playing video
games can improve visual attention for rapid and accurate
recognition of information from the environment, that
doesn't help a child's attention in some settings.

"In most video games or with most screen media, there is
constant flickering of light which forces an orienting
response," Gentile said. "There are also sound
effects and noises, and you need to attend to them, too. I
think of these as crutches for attention -- they support your
attention so you don't have to work hard to attend.

"That's very different than being in the classroom
where the teacher doesn't have sound effects, lighting,
special effects, music and camera angles," he continued.
"The child has to work to attend rather than having
external support for attention. Our data suggest that the
children who already are most at risk for attention problems
play the most games, which becomes a vicious cycle."

Amount of game play is a key factor

Although the study indicated that playing violent video games
can also be linked to greater impulsivity and attention
problems, the overall amount of time spent playing any type of
video game proved to be a greater factor. This was the case
regardless of a child's gender, race or socioeconomic
status.

Gentile says the study's results should make parents more
aware of their children's screen time.

"The good news is, when the teacher or school counselor
calls you and says, 'Your child is having problems paying
attention,' this gives you a first step before having to
medicate your child," he said. "Instead, you can look
at your child's media habits and really reduce the time to
the level recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics --
even less time for children with existing attention
problems."

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends one hour per day
of total media screen time (including TV, DVDs, video games,
Internet, iPad, etc.) for children in elementary school, and
two hours for children in secondary school. Gentile says U.S.
children currently average more than six hours of screen time
per day.

Quick Look

Children who are already more impulsive or have attention
problems tend to spend more time playing video games than other
children, which subsequently may compound their attention
problems. That's according to a new longitudinal study led
by Douglas Gentile, an associate professor of psychology at
Iowa State; and Edward Swing, an ISU psychology doctoral
candidate, and published this week by the American
Psychological Association in its debut issue of the Psychology
of Popular Media Culture journal.

Quote

"I've had numerous parents come up to me and tell me
that their child has ADHD and the only thing they could focus
on for two hours at a time is video games. And I would wonder
to myself whether that was a good thing or not. This study
begins to answer that question, and it looks as if it's not
going to help your children in the long run."